Now, This Is More Like It
by JulianMWright
Summary: Charles does the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Except he does it his way. Inspired by Patrick Stewart's ALS Ice Bucket Challenge video.


Charles could say he prided himself as a man of intellect and understood a wide range of subjects. He understood complex formulas and theories related to genetics. He understood that things were not that simple, that they were not purely black or white and sometimes one had to look at the bigger picture. He understood that as much as the government voiced out their support of mutants as part of society, there was still fear of them among the masses. He could also say he had a grasp on the inner workings of a human's mind, much thanks to his telepathic abilties.

All in all, one could say there were not much things in the world that Charles could not come to understand, except for one thing – the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Tried as he might, Charles could not understand the growing excitement behind the ice bucket challenge. Sure the dumping of a bucket of ice water onto one's head was to raise awareness of the ALS disease and encourage donations to research, __that__ he could understand though he thought it was a waste of good clean drinking water. What baffled him was that people seemed to be growing more excited about this activity and what was supposed to be an act used to raise awareness was evolving into something people did to challenge others for fun. And, they could keep passing on the challenge to the next person without making a donation.

Because of his own experience when he was researching on genetic mutation, Charles did understand though that research could be trying and difficult when funds and support were lacking. And so here he was sitting at his desk in front of a recording camera, writing a cheque donation.

After completing the cheque, Charles placed it on top of a stack of mail sitting on the corner of his desk. With the camera still recording, he then proceeded to bring out the ice bucket and glass he had prepared before hand. He dropped two large ice cubes into the glass and retrieved the scotch he had previously hidden away from the camera's view.

__Now this is more like it__, Charles thought as he poured a finger of scotch into the glass.

As he raised the glass and smiled towards the camera, he began to sense the presence of a void making its way towards him from behind.

Before Charles could question why his lover was wearing his helmet in the house, Erik called out, "You're not getting out of this one, Charles!"

Then, an onslaught of sudden coldness washed over his head, down his neck and onto his chest and shoulders.

__W– What …__

Charles gaped at the still recording camera in shocked silence, as if it could help him comprehend what had just happened.

From a distance away, he could hear a few muffled giggles behind him. Then, someone took a step towards him.

"Professor?"

Charles searched out the mind of the owner to whom the concerned voice belonged. __Hank.__

He must have taken too long to reply as another person came closer. It was Alex this time. "Professor, you alright?"

"Dude, I think you broke him." __Sean__.

"You idiot. He's not broken. He's just in shock," he heard Raven scolding. "Charles, you alright? Say something."

Slowly, Charles turned away from the camera and met a group of concerned faces. He could sense guilt and nervousness coming in waves from them. He scanned the surface of their thoughts and began to piece together what was going on.

__A meeting. Charles going into town. Planning. Shielding of thoughts. Ice bucket. Helmet–__

"Charles."

Charles broke his train of thought, turning his attention to Erik who had been standing behind the kids, his helmet tucked underneath his arm. He frowned at the helmet before meeting Erik's eyes.

"__Erik."__

With that one word, everyone froze up in tension, especially Erik. Because he knew that Charles had worked out just who had suggested the use of the ice bucket during Charles's ALS video recording session.

"Now, Charles, let's not be hasty …"

Charles stood up, pulling the wet fabric against his now cold skin in the process. It was an unpleasant sensation. The kids parted as he walked towards Erik. Everyone held their breath as they waited to see what happened next.

Raising two fingers to his temple, Charles smiled, "__Erik__ …"

Needless to say, Erik spent the rest of the week thinking he was a 10-year-old girl, dressing and behaving like one. To say the students of the school were highly disturbed and amused by the way their language teacher was behaving was an understatement. However, they got to see first hand the consequences of pissing off a telepath while Charles took the opportunity to record everything on video.

Later, after the week passed and the two lovers were viewing the video alone, Erik admitted to Charles's surprise that he had grew fond of wearing the dresses purchased for him during that particular week. It was a surprising turn of events but it did give both of them an idea for another use of the dresses. It involved a dress, some roleplay and a bed.

But well, that's a story for another day.


End file.
